View synonyms for fail-safe

fail-safe

[ feyl-seyf ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

adjective

Electronics. pertaining to or noting a mechanism built into a system, as in an early warning system or a nuclear reactor, for insuring safety should the system fail to operate properly.
equipped with a secondary system that insures continued operation even if the primary system fails.
(sometimes initial capital letter) of, relating to, or designating a system of coded military controls in which bombers dispatched to a prearranged point as part of a standard operating procedure cannot advance farther without direct orders from a designated authority and cannot have the nuclear warheads they carry armed until they have passed their prearranged point.
guaranteed to work; totally reliable:
a fail-safe recipe for a cheese soufflé.

(sometimes initial capital letter) the point beyond which the bombers cannot go without specific instruction; the fail-safe point.
something designed to work or function automatically to prevent breakdown of a mechanism, system, or the like.

, fail-safed, fail-saf·ing.

fail-safe

designed to return to a safe condition in the event of a failure or malfunction
(of a nuclear weapon) capable of being deactivated in the event of a failure or accident
unlikely to fail; foolproof

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First recorded in 1945–50; apparently from verb phrase to fail safe(ly)

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They had crossed paths once; Dad had wanted to turn Fail Safe into a movie, a project that Lumet eventually directed.

So as we lurch toward the next “fail-safe” milestone, there must be a way out for both sides.

For example, at Three Mile Island, a fail-safe feature actually made the meltdown worse.

My Social Chef recommends the perfect, fail-safe roast chicken recipe.

Internally, the communications beam to Thule Base had been interrupted; and the fail-safe had not failed-safely.

It designed ingenious models, devised foolproof laws, imposed fail-safe institutions and strongly "recommended" measures.

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